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Cologne - Off the Ball, bundesliga.com's quirky periodical, offers a selection of the offbeat stories to have emerged in Germany’s top flight in the past few days.

Today, bundesliga.com summarises some more praise for Manuel Neuer, overhears Bas Dost's plea to compatriot Arjen Robben, and catches up with an amusing Twitter exchange between Juan Bernat and Javi Martinez...

After Zinedine Zidane, there has been another French legend waxing lyrical about Manuel Neuer (l.) this week. Thierry Henry told fifa.com that at the FIFA World Cup 2014, "Neuer changed what we perceive as the job of a goalkeeper". The former FC Barcelona forward added that "the person who has really revolutionised the position is Neuer... [He] can do it as he’s a truly great goalkeeper. He always stays composed when making his passes - he’s like a genuine libero. That’s what amazed everyone at that World Cup, and now all keepers will start to play like him."

There's an intriguing Dutch subplot to FC Bayern and VfL Wolfsburg's race for the title. Bas Dost's (r.) nine goals in 2015 (11 for the season) have lifted him to third in the Bundesliga scoring charts, only five goals behind Arjen Robben. "[Winning] the Torjägerkanone has crossed my mind," explained Dost to Bild. "But for that to happen, Arjen's going to have to stop scoring." Wolves' coach Dieter Hecking, however, is convinced his star striker will prevail: "If Dost keeps scoring like this, it'll be tough even for Robben."

Tweeting since 14 February, Bayern's Juan Bernat has seemingly taken to the tool like a duck to water. After some promotional work for adidas, he and Javi Martinez engaged in an amusing exchange (see below) as to who won in a game of FIFA 15. Bernat tweeted: "I'll leave you all with a photo from yesterday's recording with adidas football", to which Martinez cheekily replied, "Who won, little fella?" The left-back's reply was short and sweet: "It was a draw...and you know it! Hahahah!"

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